NRZ has 10 working locomotives out of 67 and has failed to
attract business from mining companies moving heavy metals in and outside the
country. The organisation requires at least US$400 million to get back on its
feet in the short term.
Speaking after touring NRZ properties in Bulawayo on
Friday, Minister Mhona said NRZ required fresh capital injection to totally
revitalise the parastatal and while the ministry engages the Treasury to avail
some of the required resources, the board should also look at other prospective
suitors to revive the parastatal.
Minister Mhona said most of the machinery and locomotives
at NRZ were obsolete and were not moving with changing technologies. He said
NRZ must make itself competitive on the market to become the transporter of
choice and attract business.
“What I saw today belongs to the scrapyard. Those machines
and equipment are outdated. To capacitate NRZ from the fiscus, the cake is very
small. We go each year as a ministry and sometimes you are given a third of
what you are anticipating. Despite the cake being small as a nation we are
endowed with mineral resources and we can turn around the organisation
ourselves.
It is not about having the money but also the capacity to
have the ideas of generating the money. We need the NRZ board to give us a
turnaround strategy. The moment you go with a begging bowl to the Treasury you
will be frustrated because the Treasury is incapacitated.
The board should also look at strategic partnership. The
moment you become vibrant and robust we attract business,” he said.
Minister Mhona said Government was also seeking to
transport all heavy goods and metals by rail to prolong the lifespan of the
roads.
“It is noble to move our goods from road to rail. Our roads
are in a sorry state because there are heavy metals and goods being transported
by road. Moving heavy goods from the roads and have them transported by road is
the way to go,” he said.
NRZ board chairman Advocate Martin Dinha said NRZ required
at least 40 locomotives for it to be able to meet some of the service
requirements. He said NRZ required 300 new and modern coaches and 300 wagons.
“We don’t have enough traction power as NRZ. The NRZ board
has always been on record in appealing to the Government to assist in terms of
capacitation.
“We need at least 40 locomotives, 300 wagons and 300
coaches and this request had been given to Government and for us to move
forward and achieve what we want that is the capacity needed to turn around the
organisation. In terms of figures it is difficult to give them in terms of how
much it costs. One locomotive costs around US$3 million. For 40 it is around
US$120 million,” he said. Sunday News
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